


After Hours

by sphekso



Category: Hannibal (TV), Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 3 am conversations, Alcohol, Baltimore, Beverly Katz is the Best, Breakups, Complete, Crossover, Healing, Heart-to-Heart, M/M, Not senseless smut though!, Past Abuse, Phone Calls, Sexual Content, safe sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:26:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10098434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sphekso/pseuds/sphekso
Summary: FBI Agent Will Graham is single for the first time in two years. On his first night as a bachelor, his best friend and coworker Beverly takes him out clubbing to distract him from his now empty home. After a few drinks, he encounters another newly single man: Katsuki Yuuri, a twenty-something figure skater from Japan. Whether by fate or circumstance, Will and Yuuri soon discover they were both broken up with at exactly eleven that morning. The few hours they share next will change their lives in ways neither man will ever forget.





	1. This Door is Always Open

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! Just a note: Although the majority of this story will be PG-13ish, one of the chapters will contain an explicit sex scene, so be mindful of that if you want to keep going. Also, this chapter is mostly Hannibal-y but there will be equal YOI content too. That said, happy reading!

Will hammered his tequila back and slammed it onto the counter. He picked up the next glass without hesitation and threw it back, too. He hedged a little before shooting the last one, but downed it just as easily as the others once he finally raised it. “Smoother than I expected,” he said.

Beverly grinned. “Told you it’d be easy, didn’t I?” She flagged down the bartender.

Will grimaced. Three shots in a row had been enough for him. “You’re getting more?”

“For you? No. For me? You bet your ass I am.”

Will surprised himself by laughing. Just a few hours ago he never could’ve dreamed he’d be anything other than miserable tonight. _Thank God for Bev,_ he thought.

He’d never been to this club before, but then again he hadn’t been to any club at all since college, and back then he’d only gone due to his friends’ guilt trips. This particular club was very purple: Purple lasers crossed purple lights shining on purple walls. The huge blinking rainbow lights of the dance floor offered the only variety in color. Two bars flanked it on either side, and an old-fashioned disco ball hung above the flashing panels. The mirror ball was probably meant to be ironic in a 2017 nightclub, but either way, it caught the Technicolor display in a dazzling way.

The place was pretty packed, but not quite at capacity, so there was room to move around, and it was easy to scope people out in the crowd. After Bev handed him some kind of mixed drink—rum and coke, it turned out—he spun around on his little stool to check out the dancers on the floor.

“See anyone you like?” Bev said into his ear. It was too loud in there to hear her otherwise.

Will’s smile fell and he took a hefty swallow of his drink. He didn’t intend to answer the question.

“Come on, Will, get your head in the game. Getting dumped is a fact of life. It’s not the end of the world.” She paused for a second to judge his reaction, realized her error, and hastily added, “Sorry. You’re right. It _is_ a big deal. But hey, it’s not a big deal you have to handle tonight. You’re free for the first day in, what, two years? So live it up tonight and stress about it later.”

Will scratched at his cheek a little. “Yeah, two years. Two years _tomorrow_. It would’ve been our anniversary.” He took a purposeful sip of rum while he considered it. “Only Hannibal could be cold enough to break up with someone the day before their anniversary, huh?”

“Hey,” Bev snapped. “Don’t even say his name tonight. Forget him for a while.”

“How?” Will asked, shaking his head. “It’s only been half a day. I know I’m here to get sloppy and maybe dance a little, but I can’t forget my boyfriend left me this morning.”

“You only say that ‘cause you’re not drunk enough yet. Trust me, I’m a pro at breakups.” She tapped the side of his glass. “Drink up, Agent Graham. I’m not taking you out on that floor until you’re _really_ feeling it.”

Will looked up from his glass and gave a sheepish smile. “I guess you’re right. There’s no better excuse to be irresponsible than a bad breakup.”

“Who says we’re being irresponsible?” Bev teased, and knocked back a shot like it was a punctuation mark. She came up grinning even wider.

They hung out at the bar a while longer to get more lubricated. Just as Will was starting to wonder how much more he could take before alcohol poisoning set in, Bev let out a low whistle, her eyes fixed on something over Will’s left shoulder.

“Don’t look now, but I think you’ve got yourself an admirer.”

Will’s eyes shot open and he jerked upright. “Me? Bev! You know I can’t…”

“Easy, hot shot. I don’t expect you to do anything about it. I’m just telling you because he is capital-C _Cute_.”

Will swallowed hard. “He’s a he?”

“Yup,” Bev said. “Maybe you lucked out.”

“Maybe any other day,” Will muttered, but his shock had faded to something like a thrill now. He’d never expected anyone other than Hannibal to want him, but now he seemed to have picked up an _admirer_ the same day he’d been walked out on. “Should I… I don’t know, should I look at him? Covertly?”

“Heh,” Bev said—not an actual chuckle, just a single _heh_. “You won’t have a choice in a second.”

“What do you—“

Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun on his stool and found himself face to face with his mystery admirer.

“Hi,” his admirer said simply. “Is that seat taken?”

Stunned, confused, and disoriented, Will stammered out, “No, my, uh, my friend…” but when he looked back to Bev’s stool, he found it empty. She’d split on him. “Well. Seems like it _is_ free.”

His admirer settled into it, and Will got a good look at him for the first time. He was wearing glasses, and Will was a big fan of glasses on men. He used to wear them, but he’d switched to contacts at his new ex’s command. He’d said he looked cleaner that way. Now he planned on throwing out his contacts and getting a new pair of frames as soon as possible. The pair sitting on his admirer’s face were a little nerdy, but a little sporty, too. They were half-framed with blue plastic.

The second thing Will noticed about him was far more significant than his glasses. His admirer was _young_. Twenty-something for sure, and easily on the lower end of that scale. Will himself had just turned forty-two. _This kid must be close to half my age_ , he thought. Still, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find him cute. There was an attraction there.

“Can I get you a drink?” his youthful admirer asked.

Will blinked in surprise. Tonight had already been strange, but this was on another level entirely. He failed to answer the question. “I’m Will,” he said instead.

“It’s nice to meet you, Will,” his admirer returned. “I’m Yuuri.” Yuuri had a heavy Japanese accent, but Will could still understand him fine, and he had to admit something about the quality of his voice crossed the line from _attractive_ to _sexy_ in Will’s book, twenty-something or not.

Will squinted at him. “How old are you, exactly?”

Yuuri just laughed. Will could tell the kid was drunk as hell, but he also seemed pretty in command of his actions—much more than Will was, anyway. “I’ll just say I’m old enough to buy us drinks.”

 _I don’t know_ … Will thought. _So he’s over twenty-one… And nothing has to come of this… It’s just one drink… God, but he’s cute… Look at the way he’s smiling at me…_

“Will?”

“Shots,” Will said abruptly. “Get us some shots.”

Yuuri prepared to call the bartender over. “Is Patron fine?” he asked Will.

“Big spender,” Will noted. “But sure.”

Yuuri put in his order, holding up four fingers. The bartender filled up four shot glasses for him. The lighting made them glow purple, just like everything else in the club.

“Cheers,” Yuuri said, and the two of them clinked glasses before shooting the tequila.

“Cheers again,” Will said. They took their second shots.

Yuuri set his elbow on the bar and leaned in closer to Will. He was sweating a little from the heat of the club, but he seemed the furthest thing from nervous. He had a silly look on his face that _almost_ said he was having the time of his life, but there was a hint of sadness hidden deep in his eyes, too. “I have to say, I was a little worried about you,” he said

Will found himself leaning in closer now, too. He had a fleeting thought that he could close the distance for a kiss if he wanted to, but he shoved it away before it could take hold. “Worried about me how?”

“I was worried you might be straight,” Yuuri said. “I’m glad you’re not.”

“I’m glad, too,” Will said, then stumbled out: “I mean—About you. That _you’re_ not straight. I don’t care if _I’m_ not straight.”

Yuuri burst into laughter. “You’re very cute.” He darted a lingering glance at Will’s lips before asking, “So… Do you want to go dance?”

Will looked away and blushed. “I’m not a good dancer,” he said. Even though Yuuri was managing to make him all kinds of flustered, he hadn’t intended to dance with anyone other than Bev tonight. Certainly not with another man.

“Listen,” Yuuri began. He reached out and touched Will’s cheek without warning. Will leaned into his hand instinctively, and his eyes went half-lidded and dreamy before Yuuri broke the spell by dropping his hand and continuing his sentence. “I won’t rant about it, but I do want to say I’ve been single since lunchtime, and I came here all by myself just to find a guy to dance with for a few songs. And the reason I’m telling you this is that I really want that guy to be you. So bad dancer or not, will you go on that blinky floor with me anyway? Please?”

Will leaned back in surprise at Yuuri’s confession, almost toppling off of his stool at times. “Are you serious?” he asked incredulously. “My boyfriend and I just… No, my _ex_ and I just broke up this morning, too, right around lunchtime. That’s a crazy coincidence.”

“A coincidence… Or fate?” Yuuri mused. He was apparently too drunk to be fazed by how incredibly unlikely the whole situation was—or maybe he actually _did_ believe in fate. Will couldn’t be sure yet.

Either way, their shared situation had him on board with anything Yuuri wanted to do now, especially if it was something as simple as dancing to a few songs. Maybe he was just a kid, but he was a fellow broken heart who seemed to know what he wanted—and if a twice-his-age FBI agent like Will was what he wanted, then who was he to deny him?

“Alright then,” Will said after a pause. “Let’s go dance.”

Yuuri slid off his stool right away and grabbed Will’s hand. The contact sent a little shock through Will’s body. He looked around for Bev while Yuuri dragged him over to the floor, but he didn’t see her anywhere. He was sure she was watching, though, and he could picture the exact smug smile she probably had plastered on her lips.

He squeezed Yuuri’s more delicate hand in his larger one, and for the second time that night thought: _Thank God for Bev._


	2. No One Has the Guts to Shut Us Out

It was well after last call, and frankly Will didn’t know why they hadn’t been kicked out by now. He wasn’t complaining, though. He and Yuuri weren’t the only ones left in the club, but they would be soon enough.

He had no idea where Bev had run off to. He hadn’t seen her since just before Yuuri tapped him on the shoulder, but she’d sent him a text while they’d been on the floor dancing. The text only contained a series of winky faces and squirt emojis, though, so it wasn’t exactly informative. Will figured she was probably home in bed by now—and, knowing her, she probably wasn’t alone.

After the music stopped and the white lights came on, Will and his new friend Yuuri migrated off the dance floor to loiter near one of the bars. They were both still drunk and a little dizzy, so they leaned their shoulders against the wall for support as they faced each other.

They were quiet at first, just drinking each other in with their eyes while slight smiles tugged at their lips. Yuuri looked even younger with the lights on, but somehow that didn’t bother Will at all. He wondered what the young man saw in him.

“Do you normally go for older men?” he asked.

Yuuri coyly tilted his chin down and slid his eyes up over Will’s body until they reached his face. “Normally I don’t do any of this. There was one time… But all I remember about that is what I’ve seen in pictures and videos.”

“Pictures?” Will asked, chuckling. “What were you doing in them?”

“The same thing as tonight. Drinking, dancing. Finding a guy to throw myself at. The only difference is I lost some clothes that night.”

“Too bad I didn’t get to see,” Will said. The rational part of him couldn’t believe he was talking to a—what was he, a college kid?—that way, but the rest of him was firing at full engines.

“Oh, so you want me to strip for you now?” Yuuri’s eyes sparkled with humor as he said it. “Don’t you like my outfit?”

Will took the opportunity to check him out from head to toe. He was dressed just as youthfully as his face suggested. He wasn’t wearing a jacket with his slim silver tie, and his bright red Converse contrasted sharply with his dark jeans and navy dress shirt in a way only a very young man could get away with. His rolled-up sleeves, popped-open collar button, and slacked tie suggested a kind of cool ease Will thought he might get lost in. He shook his head a little and looked back to Yuuri’s eyes. _I might get lost in those, too,_ he thought. _Fuck, am I drunk._

“From the look on your face I’d say you’re a fan of my style,” Yuuri joked. “Or maybe my body?”

“I’d say both.” Will regretted dressing so lamely: Thick brown blazer, plaid shirt, nothing special. “I like that you wear your tie loose,” he said. “It’s…”

“It’s what?” Yuuri prodded. “It’s… Sexy, right?” He brought his hand up to the knot of his tie and tugged at it, shifting it back and forth across his open collar. “At least, I think it’s pretty sexy. Don’t you?”

Instead of replying, in one swift motion Will stepped in front of Yuuri and leaned forward, pressing one hand against the wall over Yuuri’s shoulder. Will was taller than him, but he had his head turned up to him, so their lips were only inches apart.

Yuuri’s cheeks flushed and his breath quickened as he waited for Will to close the distance between them, but he never did. He just studied him with careful eyes.

“You still haven’t told me how old you are,” he said.

“I know,” Yuuri said. “But I don’t think you care. You’re pretty into me. In fact…” He reached for the back of Will’s head and pulled him into a kiss.

Will wasn’t shocked by the kiss, but he _was_ shocked that Yuuri’s tongue parted his lips first. _The boy has initiative_ , he thought, and he softly—at first—moved his own tongue to meet Yuuri’s. Their tequila-touched lips worked with building intensity, but before they reached a plateau Yuuri broke the kiss. He twirled around Will’s arm with the ease of a dancer and pinned Will against the wall this time.

Yuuri caught Will’s lips again. He lifted his leg to graze his knee up Will’s inseam, which only made Will kiss him harder. When Yuuri’s knee reached its destination, he discovered something there had gotten harder, too.

At that, Yuuri fell away from Will and started laughing.

“Why…?” Will wondered. His intoxicated mind was struggling to keep track of everything that was happening.

“You’re hard,” Yuuri said, grinning and wiping a tear from his eye.

Will looked down at his jeans and found them to be bulging obscenely. He hadn’t even realized. His cheeks flooded crimson.

“Now you’re blushing,” Yuuri added. “You’re so _cute_.”

Will couldn’t help but smile a little. The sexual hunger faded from him quickly from Yuuri’s laughter, but he wasn’t sorry for it. It seemed right. “A guy generally doesn’t want to hear his hard dick is _cute_ ,” he said. “But from you it sounds like a compliment.”

“That’s because it is,” Yuuri said. “I’m actually happy. I didn’t think I’d be able to have that effect on anyone this soon.”

“This soon after what?” Will asked, then snagged a thought as it swam by in the haze of tequila. “Oh. You mean since you and your…”

Yuuri looked at his sneaker-clad feet and shuffled them a little. “My ex, yes.”

“If it helps, I didn’t expect this so soon after mine, either.”

Yuuri looked back up, smirking now. “Expect what? You didn’t get _me_ hard.”

“Tried my best,” Will grumbled.

“I give you an ‘E’ for Effort,” Yuuri said. Will looked crestfallen, so he added, “No, really. I’m just… I don’t think I’m capable of that right now. Any other night I’d be bursting out of these jeans!”

Yuuri’s voice boomed with such enthusiasm that it caught the attention of a nearby bartender. “Hey, you two,” she called to them. “It’s after closing. Take your bursting jeans outside.”

Will paled at first, then started to laugh. It was an honest, deep laugh, and before long Yuuri joined in, too. In that moment their exes slipped their minds, and neither of them had a single thought about anything other than how much they were enjoying each other’s company.

Beverly had done a good deed that night.


	3. If We Have to Go Now

The streets of Baltimore were plenty chilly at 3 AM. Will started to shiver a little as soon as they stepped outside the club and onto the concrete. Yuuri, though, seemed perfectly comfortable.

“Aren’t you cold?” Will asked him. “You’re not even wearing a jacket.”

“Me, cold?” Yuuri replied. “No. I’m a figure skater. I’ve spent most of my life on the ice.”

“A figure skater? As in professionally?”

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah, ever since I was young.”

“Are you any good?”

“Well, you would definitely know my name if you knew much about skating. That’s all I’ll say.”

Will let out a whistle. “Must be famous, then,” he said. “I’ve never been ice skating before. Ice _fishing_ , sure, but skating? Never.”

“What do you do, Will?”

“I work for the FBI.”

“So you catch bad guys?”

“When I do my job well. I can’t say I’ve been working at top capacity lately, though.”

“Me, neither,” Yuuri admitted.

They were ambling through downtown Baltimore now, which Will would never have done sober, but it seemed they had plenty to talk about, and it made more sense to walk and talk than to stand in front of the club half-wasted.

“I like you, Will,” Yuuri said after a while of conversation.

Will found himself genuinely smiling again. _If I’d stayed home tonight I’d probably be crying instead_ , he thought, but he didn’t let the thought linger. He was too eager to focus his attention on the young man next to him. “What makes you say that?”

“I’m saying I like you because I know you need to hear it,” Yuuri said. He looked up at the sky. The stars weren’t shining down, but the city lights picked up the slack in their stead. “I know you need to hear it because I know I need to hear it, too, and we’re the same. We’re both single now. Your first night single, my first night single… It’s funny.”

That gave Will pause. When he spoke again, his words came out softly. “I like you, too, but it’s something more than that. I feel close to you, and I’m not usually a fan of new people.”

“That must be lonely,” Yuuri said. “I enjoy meeting new people. I just don’t get to meet many outside the circuit.”

They came across a bench, and decided to settle into it. Yuuri scooted closer to Will until their sides pressed together tightly. He leaned his head on Will’s shoulder, and Will wrapped his arm around his shoulders in turn.

“It’s so wonderful here,” Yuuri said quietly. He didn’t make it clear if he meant Baltimore or Will’s shoulder.

The fog of alcohol was lifting now, and Will was becoming more and more conscious of just how _wonderful_ the situation really was. “Can I ask you something personal?”

Yuuri nodded against his shoulder.

“Are you upset about what happened today? Or fine with it?”

“You mean what happened before the club? I’m conflicted about that.” Yuuri swallowed hard, then added: “By the way… You should know I wouldn’t talk about this with just anyone. But with you I don’t mind it, as long as you don’t mind sharing, too.”

“That’s more than fine,” Will said. “As for sharing, I’m not conflicted like you are. I’m just upset. It’s odd saying that now considering what a good time I’m having with you, but underneath it all I’m pretty damned upset.”

“Was it unexpected?”

“Extremely. We’ve been… No, we _were_ having a rough patch, but that’s something all couples go through, isn’t it? But my boyfriend—“

“What was his name?”

“Hannibal,” Will said. “Anyway, I shouldn’t even be calling him my boyfriend now, should I? God, it’s such a mess. He walked out and I didn’t see it coming at all.”

“You lived together?”

Will nodded.

“Us too,” Yuuri said. “Only I lived at his house, and it sounds like your Hannibal lived at yours. It’ll be strange for both of us to live alone. I’ll have to find a new home now… Or maybe I’ll move back with my family.”

“Have you been in Baltimore long?” Will asked.

“No,” Yuuri said. “We came here for business. I’m from a little village in Japan called Hasetsu, but I’ve been living in St. Petersburg with my fiancé—“ he cringed and cut himself off. “ _Ex-_ fiancé,” he corrected. “That’s going to be a hard habit to break.”

“It’ll get easier, I hope. What’s his name?”

“Viktor.”

“Viktor, then,” Will said. “Now just call him Viktor, and I’ll call mine Hannibal, and we won’t have to worry about the _ex_ word.”

“That sounds okay,” Yuuri said. He snuggled his head against Will a bit. “You’re so warm. Warmer than Viktor was.”

Will shrugged. “Hannibal always said I ran hot, but I’ve never heard it from anyone else. I’d never been in a real relationship before him, though.”

“Really?” Yuuri asked. “I hadn’t, either, but… You’re older.”

“Ouch,” Will said. “Using the age gap against me? Some of us just don’t date much, buddy.” He pulled his younger friend in closer and kissed the top of his head. “It’s nice being able to talk like this. I guess we haven’t actually said all that much detail-wise, but it feels like volumes, doesn’t it?”

“It feels like we’re confessing sins, or something.”

“We’ll just have to forgive each other like priests, then.”

“I think we already have,” Yuuri said. “If I’m already forgiven, I’ll tell you something: It was my fault. I said something I should’ve known would break us up. I thought I was helping our future by saying it, but it was the opposite.”

“What did you tell him?”

“It’s dumb, but I said I decided to quit skating.”

“That doesn’t sound dumb to me.”

“No,” Yuuri said, “the dumb part is that it was a lie. I’m not actually quitting.”

“Then why tell him you were?”

“It’s complicated. I’m conflicted, remember?”

“Right. You’re conflicted and I’m upset, but we’re still in this together.”

“We are, aren’t we?” Yuuri said. “But… Will?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m freezing. My immunity to cold only goes so far.”

Will moved away a little, touched Yuuri’s chin, and tipped it up for a soft kiss. “I’ll call you a Lyft,” he said.

Yuuri’s eyes closed at the kiss, and stayed shut even as Will settled back into his seat and began tapping at his phone.

“What’s your hotel?” Will asked.

“Take your pick,” Yuuri said. “I can’t go back to Viktor’s hotel.”

“Okay then.” Will finished registering the Lyft request. He’d picked somewhere ritzy. “So… Now that you’re leaving… Yuuri?”

Yuuri gave a little _heh_. “I can guess what you’re asking,” he said. “And the answer is yes, I _do_ want you to come with me.”

Will pocketed his phone. “Thanks for reading my mind. I wasn’t sure how to approach that one. If you want, when we get there we can just keep talking.”

“But we could do something else, too,” Yuuri suggested.

When Will looked back to him Yuuri seemed to be in the same good spirits he’d been in when they left the club, before their heart to heart about breakups began. His good cheer was infectious. “Don’t feel pressured just because I’m older and you’re a kid,” Will said.

“I’d think _you’d_ feel pressured because I have a ‘kid’s’ sex drive.”

Will chuckled and gave Yuuri another kiss, longer this time. “I’m just saying I’m happy spending time with you, even if we don’t do anything extra.”

“I would say you’re a nice distraction, too, but this feels like more than that.”

“We have something going on here, don’t we?”

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure what it is, but it was strong in the first place. Otherwise I wouldn’t have picked you out in the crowd so fast. It’s almost… A link.”

“Kinship?”

“Maybe.” Yuuri reached out to touch Will’s face again, like he had at the club. He gently stroked Will’s stubbled cheek. “You’re so _cute_ ,” he said for the umpteenth time. “Kiss me while we wait?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Will said. He took Yuuri’s hand from his cheek and brushed his lips against his palm before dropping it and moving in for a kiss. _The car will be here soon_ , he thought as their lips moved in unison.

It was an impactful moment for them both, but there were more such moments yet to come.


	4. I Guess There's Always Hope

Yuuri’s new room was _almost_ as ritzy as Will had intended. It wasn’t a proper suite like he’d thought it would be, but it did have a sitting area with a second TV, just no full wall between it and the bedroom. There didn’t need to be a wall, of course, because Will had no intention of sleeping on the pull-out couch.

“Pretty view, huh?” Will asked. They were on the twenty-seventh floor.

“Very,” Yuuri said, plastered against the window. “I’ve never been this high up before.”

“Not even in Tokyo?”

“I’m not from Tokyo, remember? I’m from Hasetsu. You’re forgetful.”

“You wound me,” Will joked. “I know where you’re from. I haven’t forgotten a word you’ve said to me tonight.”

“Not one?”

“Not a single one,” Will replied. He moved toward Yuuri and the window. “I especially remember one thing you told me.”

“What’s that?” Yuuri asked.

“You said you liked me, and that you knew I needed to hear it. I _did_ need to hear it. So thank you.”

Yuuri pursed his lips. “In case you forgot, I said I needed to hear it, too.”

“I didn’t forget,” Will said, and swiftly pushed Yuuri against the full-length window. He brought his mouth down against Yuuri’s, harder this time than before.

Yuuri let his lips melt into Will’s, but pushed him away before long. “Easy there,” he said. “First things first… Do you really want this?”

Will backed away and looked him in the eye. He’d never liked eye contact, but there was something about Yuuri’s eyes that made him want to never look away. There was still a part of him that was screaming: _No, he’s too young!_ but that part was rapidly evaporating. _So what if he’s younger?_ he thought more logically. _If I find this so natural, he probably does, too._

“I do want you,” Will decided aloud. “As much as you’ll have me.”

“In that case… I want all of you. Understand?”

Will took a bit to gauge Yuuri’s expression. “I do,” he said. “I like the idea, but back at the club you said you didn’t think you could ‘respond’ yet. Has that changed?”

Yuuri frowned. It wasn’t a look Will enjoyed seeing on him. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he said. “Just because _I_ can’t get off doesn’t mean _you_ shouldn’t. And hey, maybe I will be able to. We won’t know until we try. And I definitely want to try.”

Will reached out his arm. “Come here, then.”

Yuuri nodded once and took two steps forward. He grasped Will’s outstretched hand, and Will pulled him in closer.

Will reached up with both hands and lightly held the sides of Yuuri’s head, lifting it up to search his eyes. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”

Yuuri didn’t answer. He was swimming in Will’s caring eyes. He wasn’t surprised to find unease in their deepest pools. Yuuri knew his own eyes must betray the same fear.

So much passed between them in that moment: All the things they felt and didn’t need to vocalize, because they recognized the same emotions in each other. For all their kisses and good cheer, they were both still lost and hurting. But they were facing down the darkness together now. And with each other they felt _safe_.

Yuuri slid his fingers under Will’s collar, tugging at it until the button popped. “Here we go…” he said playfully.

“One down,” Will said with a nervous laugh.

“Yep.” Yuuri touched Will’s cheek again. He seemed fond of the stubble there. “We’re so alike, aren’t we? But you’re old enough to be my dad.”

Will winced and turned his head away, but Yuuri turned it back, and Will found him smirking. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Nothing. It’s just the way you’re confused about it. We’re both adults, Will. Maybe there’s an age gap, and maybe I don’t know your last name, but I know you well enough to want to share this with you.”

Will opened his mouth to speak, but Yuuri brought his finger to his lips.

“Hush,” Yuuri said, and replaced his finger with his mouth. He put his hand back at Will’s now-open collar and tugged some more.

Will took the hint and shrugged out of his blazer, letting it fall to the floor.

Yuuri set to unbuttoning Will’s shirt in earnest. He untucked it and opened it fully, then roamed his hand from the bare flesh of Will’s abdomen up to the center of his chest.

“Am I okay?” Will asked with real uncertainty. He was too nervous to accept what was going on without confirmation.

“Oh, very much,” Yuuri purred. There was a slight awkward silence between them, so he cut in with: “Don’t you want to strip me now?”

Of course Will did, but… He did some mental math. Hannibal had walked out on him at eleven AM, and now it was just five the next morning. Not even twenty-four hours, yet here he was, in a twenty-something boy’s hotel room, his shirt hanging open with said boy expecting him to strip him, too. Will shook the _maybe I shouldn’t be doing this_ thought from his mind for the last time, pulled off his button-down, and tossed it aside. Fully shirtless now, bared to Yuuri in a way he never thought he’d bare himself to anyone other than Hannibal, he said, “Get on the bed.”

Yuuri’s eyes flickered with excitement at the order. “I’m still dressed.”

“So?” Will returned.

Yuuri started pacing backwards away from the little alcove with the couch and the second TV, not taking his eyes off of Will for a second. The bed on the other side of the room was a spacious king with more than enough mattress for both of them. Yuuri fell backwards onto it when he felt it hit his legs.

Will wasted no time falling on top of him. He was ready for this now. He kissed Yuuri hard, supporting himself with one arm while his other hand fell to Yuuri’s buttons. He undid them methodically as they kissed. He wasn’t adept at it with one hand, so it took a while, but it didn’t matter with their lips locked in a most salacious way. “Take it off,” Will said when he was done.

“My tie’s still on,” Yuuri said.

“Leave it?”

Yuuri’s eyes twinkled again. “Sure.” He scooted back from Will against the headboard, tugged off his shirt, then shot it across the room. It smacked against the window before falling to the ground. “Better?”

Will grabbed him by the tie, pulled him up, and said, “Vastly.”

“Vastly? I like that,” Yuuri said.

“Attracted to a big vocabulary?”

“Big vocabularies… And other big things.”

Will snickered. “I hope I meet your standards.” He knew full well that he did.

“You have to hope?” Yuuri countered. “I already saw what you had in your jeans. I know you’re a big man, Will.” He started to reach for Will’s pants, then pulled his hands away and loosely wrapped his arms around Will’s back instead, once again locking their eyes together.

“What’s wrong?”

“I joked about it earlier, but I really don’t know your last name.”

Will smirked. “It’s Graham. Will Graham.”

“Like a graham cracker?”

“Ugh, you sound like Bev,” Will replied grimly.

Yuuri shrugged. “Alright. Not a graham cracker, just a regular Graham. I’m a regular Katsuki.”

“Yuuri Katsuki,” Will said, testing the sound of it.

“Katsuki Yuuri,” Yuuri corrected.

“I was close. So what happens now that we’re acquainted?”

Yuuri tightened his grip on Will’s back, pulled him down, and snatched his lips with his own.

Will was surprised by the motion and didn’t meet it with proper resistance, so they toppled to the right, and, lying there side by side, lips still locked, Will wrapped his hand around the knot of Yuuri’s tie and pulled.

“You really do like ties,” Yuuri said between kisses.

Will grinned against his new friend’s mouth. “Maybe,” he said.

“Do you want me to leave it on?”

“Why not?” Will said. “It looks good on you.”

Yuuri stared at him and waited a beat while their lips were separated before ordering, “Take off your pants, Mr. Graham.”

“It’s Agent Graham, I’ll have you know.” Will undid his belt and threw it aside.

“That’s a start,” Yuuri said. “Now give me the rest.”


	5. Someplace Will Be Serving After Hours

“Shit,” Will spat.

“What’s wrong?”

He was about to free Yuuri from his boxers, but for some reason he’d frozen up with his fingers hooked under the waistband. “It’s just… This is it, you know?”

“Again?” Yuuri asked. “Don’t be so nervous all the time.”

“I’m not nervous,” Will said. “I’m worried.” Even as he balked, he didn’t move his hands away from their spot on the last shred of Yuuri’s clothing.

Yuuri sighed heavily. “We’ve been through this,” he said. “You said you were okay with it.”

“You’re misunderstanding me,” Will said. “I’m more than okay with it. I’m just worried about you.”

“Me?” Yuuri blinked at him in confusion. “Why?”

“Listen,” Will began. “I’m prepared to never look back. This is a big moment, kind of like a crossroads.” He flexed his fingers against the elastic band, tugging it ever so slightly southward. Yuuri didn’t have a treasure trail to speak of, and with his boxers as low as they were Will guessed he was perfectly smooth everywhere else, too. He’d never been with a guy who shaved, and he was chomping at the bit to feel just how smooth Yuuri really was. But even considering his lust, something stopped him. “You know you’ll be leaving your past behind. I’m good with moving on, but you’re still young. You might be more attached to Viktor than you think.“

“Really?” Yuuri groaned. “First off, don’t say that name while you’re about to take off my underwear. Second, I’m young, but for the thousandth time, _I’m still a man_. I know what I’m doing, and you and I want the same thing right now.”

Will’s worries started to fade, and the lust he’d already begun to feel quickly filled their spots in his mind. “We both want sex,” he said. It was more of a statement than a question, so he didn’t expect a response, but just before he could unwrap Yuuri—

“Wait a minute,” Yuuri blurted. “I _do_ mean that, but I also mean something else. I think we…” he let himself trail off. “No, never mind. I’ll tell you about it later. It’ll just get us off track.”

_I guess a little mystery never hurt anyone_ , Will thought. “Later is good,” he said. “So we’re on the same page?”

“Definitely.”

“Then let’s see what you’re working with.” Will tugged Yuuri’s boxers down in earnest this time. He let out an appreciative sigh at his first sight of the figure skater’s bare skin. He really did shave everywhere. Yuuri wriggled his hips to help Will pull his boxers off completely, and he tossed them at the wall without even turning his head. He was completely rapt.

“Seems like you like what you see,” Yuuri said.

“Oh, not completely,” Will said. It wasn’t the answer Yuuri had been looking for. “Mostly, sure, but not completely. It’s nice by anyone’s standards, but there’s a big problem with it.”

“What’s that?”

Will reached out and grazed his fingertips in a circle around Yuuri’s navel. Yuuri shuddered in response, and bit his lower lip in anticipation as Will’s hand journeyed down his lower abdomen, sliding over his shaved skin with unimpeded ease as his fingers drifted down in slow spirals.

Yuuri gasped. Will had found his target.

“The problem is…” Will said, taking a maddeningly long time to trace down the length of Yuuri’s cock with his pointer finger. “…You’re still soft.”

Yuuri cringed back a little, and Will had to lean forward to keep his hand in place. “I told you twice,” Yuuri said. “I don’t know if I can perform so soon after yesterday. I just… I wanted to try, but…”

“It’s okay. I think I can help. Just lay back and close your eyes.”

Yuuri nodded, blood rising hot in his cheeks. He took one last look at Will before tilting his head back against the headboard and shutting his eyes.

“Good boy,” Will said, and wrapped his fingers around Yuuri’s dick. Yuuri let out a slight groan as Will hefted his cock and gently twisted his hand to get a feel for it. It wasn’t enormous—not like Will’s—but it had just enough length for the head to breach past Will’s fingers when he held it at the root. He gave it a squeeze, and he could’ve sworn he felt at least a little blood rush into it, but that turned out to be wishful thinking. _Let’s try third base,_ he thought.

Yuuri gasped sharply when Will’s lips pressed against him, but he still didn’t swell from the contact. “Will, I don’t think…”

“Shh,” Will urged. “Don’t speak.” He began spinning his tongue around the ridge of Yuuri’s cockhead. Even soft, what the college boy lacked in length he made up for in girth, and as he ran his tongue around, Will realized his tongue’s trip was longer than he was used to with Hannibal. He wondered how thick Yuuri would get once he was hard, and that sent a rush of heat to his own—already swollen—dick. With Hannibal he would’ve been stroking himself off while he worked. Yuuri wasn’t Hannibal, though, and he needed one hundred percent of Will’s attention.

He kept licking, and slid his free hand up Yuuri’s abs to his toned chest, stopping when his fingers found purchase at his nipple. Yuuri shuddered even harder than he had from Will’s tongue. _He’s sensitive_ , Will thought. _I can work with that._ He grazed the nub with his fingertips, dancing them back and forth, brushing and teasing until Yuuri’s hands gripped the sheets at his sides tighter and tighter with each motion.

It didn’t take long for Will to put two and two together. He needed to refocus his attention. He drew away from Yuuri’s cock and moved to hover over his chest. Keeping his hand playing at Yuuri’s right nipple, he lowered his mouth to his exposed left one. He flicked his tongue against it and was rewarded with a low groan. _Jackpot_ , he thought. He kissed and licked at the sensitive skin around it after the first flick, purposefully ratcheting up the tension until finally making contact—first with his lips, then with his tongue, and a little with his teeth, too.

Yuuri freed his left hand from the sheets and brought it to the back of Will’s head, tangling his fingers in the wavy curls he found there. He groaned again as Will nipped at him—higher pitched this time, more like a whine. Will could guess from Yuuri’s quickening breath that his plan was working. He roamed his hand from Yuuri’s body, not bothering with the slow circles this time. He had purpose now. With his head at Yuuri’s chest he couldn’t be completely sure he was succeeding, and he needed evidence.

_Well, well,_ he thought. _I think I found some._

He raised his head. “Open your eyes,” he said.

Yuuri complied, and looked down at him like a sad puppy. “You stopped.”

“I did indeed,” Will returned.

“Please, keep going,” Yuuri asked, though from his tone, _begged_ was probably a more accurate word to use.

“I don’t think so,” Will said. While Yuuri’s eyes were closed Will had dropped himself down until their bodies were almost in contact. Yuuri shifted a bit under him. The lack of room must have been making him nervous, but he didn’t ask Will to back off. That was good. Will needed to block his vision.

“Please?” Yuuri begged again.

“Yuuri,” Will said. “I stopped for a reason.”

“But…”

“I’ll give you one guess what the reason is.”

Yuuri searched Will’s eyes for clues. “I don’t know. To tease me?”

“Nope,” Will said. “You’re a funny guy, you know. You really didn’t notice?”

With that, Will pushed himself up and sat back on his heels, coming to rest between Yuuri’s splayed-out legs. “Looks like you had it in you all along.”

Yuuri’s eyes grew to saucers. His cock was almost painfully hard. He’d been so caught up in Will’s lips, tongue, and teeth that he hadn’t felt it swell up at all. He looked at it in disbelief for a moment before breaking into a fit of relieved laughter. “I guess I did,” he said, and wiped a tear from his eye. He reached down and gave his shaft a squeeze. “I haven’t been this hard in ages.”

“I’m honored,” Will said. “Now then: Katsuki Yuuri, I have a question for you.”

“Yes?”

“We forgot to negotiate something. It’s time to clear it up.”

Yuuri raised his brows as if to say: _Get on with it_.

“I’ll be blunt. Are you a _fucker_ or a _fuckee_?”

It took a second for it to sink in, but when it did Yuuri cracked up again. Will loved how easily his laughter came. “Fucker or fuckee,” Yuuri said after catching his breath. “That’s too good.”

“Answer the question.”

“Well… With Viktor I was the fuckee, but…”

“But?”

Yuuri’s eyes gleamed with new confidence. “I’d rather be the fucker tonight.”

Will smirked. “Taking initiative? I like that in a guy. Lucky for you, I’m a dyed in the wool fuckee.”

“Even as big as you are?” Yuuri asked, gesturing to Will’s lap. Big was an understatement.

“Oh…” Will’s hand fell to his crotch. He batted at his hard dick, sending it wobbling back and forth on full display. It was the first time Yuuri had gotten a good look at it, and even as socially awkward as Will was, he always enjoyed showing it off on the rare occasions he stripped with someone. “You mean this little thing?”

“Fuck. That’s… Really something.”

“Sounds like you want to feel it.”

Yuuri just nodded, apparently at a loss for words.

“Hmm. You want to touch another guy’s cock, then? Have you ever considered you might be homosexual?”

Will hoped the joke would put Yuuri in more stitches, but the tension in the air turned out to be too high. “I do want to… But let’s save that for later,” Yuuri said.

“Later?”

“Yeah, later. After I finish fucking you.”

Will looked shocked. “This is the first time anyone’s passed up the opportunity. But with you?” He wrapped his fingers around Yuuri’s fist, which was wrapped around his dick in turn. He tugged up and down a few times, slowly jacking Yuuri off with both of their hands together. “I don’t think I mind it at all,” he finished.

“Get your protection,” Yuuri said, breathing hard.

“Protection...? Shit!” Will buried his free hand in his hair. “I didn’t expect… Shit. I didn’t bring any. Did you?”

Yuuri shook his head, but for some reason he was smiling.

“After all this? Shit,” Will cursed again. “I guess we’ll have to settle for oral.”

“I don’t think so,” Yuuri said. His voice and expression were equally coy, so Will couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“What do you mean?”

“You should check your jacket,” Yuuri replied. “Left pocket.”

Will was perplexed, but he went along with Yuuri’s command. He stood up from the bed and walked over to his crumpled jacket, his cock swaying obscenely as he went. He picked it up and reached into its pocket. “…Huh?”

“I saw your friend slip it in there before she ran off,” Yuuri said. “She’s a thoughtful woman.”

“Wow.” Will held the little foil square up to the light. “I guess she _is_ thoughtful. There are more of them in there, too.”

“We only need one. Come back to bed.”

Will gladly complied. He crawled onto the bed and over Yuuri until they were face to face.

“What’s the silly look for?” Yuuri asked.

Will’s expression was something between a grin and a sideways smirk. “Nothing. I’ll give you the condom. But there’s a condition.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes theatrically. “What’s the American saying? _Nothing in life is free_. Not even sexy FBI agents.”

“Especially not sexy FBI agents. Maybe the not so sexy ones, but I come with requirements.”

“Tell me.”

“Kiss me,” Will said simply.

“That’s it? You want me to kiss you?”

Will nodded, the silly smile still plastered on his lips. “That’s all.”

“You didn’t have to ask me for _that_ ,” Yuuri said. Something changed in his eyes as he looked up at Will, and he reached out to touch his cheek. “Hey… One thing before we start? Remember what you asked me before? If anyone had ever told me how beautiful I am?”

“Yeah?”

“You should know that you’re beautiful, too. I get the feeling your Hannibal didn’t tell you that too often. We keep getting off track with all this talking, but I thought you should know you’re more than an object in my eyes.”

Will didn’t know what to say. Yuuri spoke for him, in a way. He lifted his head to meet Will’s lips.

They melted together, and before long the condom wrapper fell forgotten from Will’s hand. It wasn’t like the club, or the bench, or their arrival in the hotel room. They weren’t making out like hungry teenagers this time. This was something different, and between kisses they found themselves whispering things to each other that neither of them had felt like saying to anyone in quite some time.

When they finally parted, Will realized it actually _had_ been ages. It was well past dawn. Between Yuuri’s lips and their hushed words, he hadn’t even noticed the sun rise. “Damn,” he said, rolling onto his back next to Yuuri. _We got lost together, didn’t we?_ he thought. “I was all ready to be your fuckee, but you had to go and sweep me off my feet. Only a very special man could do that.”

“So _now_ I’m a man to you?”

“Yeah, you’ve shown me that. That was almost better than sex.” Will reached out to brush a lock of hair from Yuuri’s forehead. “I really think I needed you, Yuuri. I think you needed me, too.”

“Past tense?” Yuuri asked.

“No,” Will said after a beat. “I should’ve said _need_.”

“I like _need_ much better,” Yuuri said. The moment lingered until he broke in with a faux clearing of his throat. “ _Ahem._ As much as I want you to keep saying such sweet things, they’re having a side effect you’re not noticing.”

“What’s that?” Will asked. He’d turned his head to stare at the ceiling in near-perfect bliss.

Yuuri took Will’s hand and guided it into his lap.

_So much for romance,_ Will thought, then felt what he was meant to feel and snapped his head to the side to look Yuuri in the eye. “You’re hard.”

“Yep.”

“You mean you still…?”

“Yep.”

“So we can…?”

“Just get the condom.”

He grabbed it from his side at light-speed. “We’re really doing this?”

“Yes, Will,” Yuuri said. “We’re really doing this.”

“This is going to be very different for us than it would’ve been two hours ago.”

“I know,” Yuuri said quietly. “This is more than just a fuck to me, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Will looked down at the foil wrapper in his hand, and warmth rushed below his waist again. It wasn’t just lust this time, though. It was something he hadn’t felt in quite some time. In fact, it was something he’d first felt exactly two years ago to the day.

_When did I lose this feeling?_ he wondered. _I was sure I felt it the whole time, but… I guess somewhere along the way I forgot what it was supposed to feel like. I remember now. It’s supposed to feel exactly like this._

“Will?” Yuuri piped in, snapping him back to the room. “Where’d you go?”

Will looked up from the packet. “I was just asking myself a question, is all.”

“Did you get an answer?” Yuuri asked. Remarkably, he didn't sound impatient. He wasn’t getting any softer, yet he wasn't pushing Will faster than he wanted to go.

“Yeah,” Will said. “But it’s not important now.”

“Why not?”

Will tore open the wrapper. “Because I get to be your fuckee now. At least for a little while.”

“You’re so cute,” Yuuri teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said. He gripped Yuuri’s cock in one hand. "Hold still."

As he rolled the condom on, Will realized that for the first time in months he wasn’t afraid of what came next.


	6. One Final, Final Round

They weren’t alone on the elevator, but as they dropped past the twentieth floor, Yuuri linked his fingers through Will’s hand, anyway. Neither of them could tell if any of the other passengers noticed the gesture. They were too busy smiling at each other for that.

It was pleasantly cool outside, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Between Yuuri and the weather, everything seemed perfect in Will’s eyes. They didn’t even have to wait long before Bev’s old Toyota pulled up to the curb.

Will held the back door open for Yuuri before piling in himself. He could’ve ridden shotgun, but he wanted to stay with his new friend as long as he could. He was doing his best not to think about Yuuri’s flight. They still had some time together, and he intended to make the most of it.

“You boys are glowing,” Bev said, eyeing them from the rearview mirror as she started to drive. “Are you sure you just had breakups?”

Will couldn’t see her mouth, but he knew she was smirking. He could hear it in her voice. “Hush and be happy for us,” he said.

“Who says I’m not happy? I’m the one who made it happen. But…” She adjusted the mirror to look at Yuuri. “What’s your name, kid? Will hasn’t told me a thing.”

“Yuuri,” he said. “And you’re Beverly.”

“Call me Bev. We’re all friends here, although some of us are closer than others judging by where I picked you up.”

Yuuri’s face burned. Will patted his knee and said, “Lay off, Bev. He’s not used to you yet.”

“Alright,” she said, “I’m just glad this happened. I liked playing matchmaker. Maybe I’ll do it more often.” She turned the mirror so she could actually see properly, and the car jerked to the side as soon as she took her hand off the wheel. She managed to right it before they could veer into oncoming traffic.

“Please stay focused for once,” Will begged.

“I’m always focused,” she said. “Anyway, I can’t say I expected you two to go as far as you did.”

Will sighed. “We both know that’s not true.”

“And how could you know a thing like that?”

Will opened his mouth to reply, but Yuuri spoke up before he could. “Presents,” he said.

Bev snorted a little laugh, but Will didn’t get it. “Presents?” he asked.

“The condoms, genius,” Bev said.

“Oh,” Will said. Now _he_ was blushing.

“So where are we headed? Airport? Another hotel? Tell me quick so I can stop driving in circles.”

“Home,” Will said.

“Wolf Trap?” she asked. “That’s an hour away.”

“And?”

“Fine,” she groaned. “I guess I did pick you up last night. Gotta get you back to your car, and all that. I take it you’re dropping Yuuri off yourself?”

“He told you I’m leaving?” Yuuri asked.

“Yeah, in the single text he sent. He said you guys were at that hotel and you’d probably need a ride to Dulles.”

“Plans change,” Will said, and took Yuuri’s hand. “Unexpected things happen. Sometimes they’re pretty wonderful.”

“I think so, too,” Yuuri said dreamily.

Bev shook her head. “Am I hearing this properly? You sound ooey-gooey.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Will asked.

“Not sure,” Bev said. “It’s sketchy for a couple reasons, but I’ll let it slide. Just enjoy it while you can, you know?”

Yuuri grimaced, so before Bev could elaborate Will told her, “Don’t talk about time right now, okay?”

“Sure. Sorry if I hit a sore spot. I’ll pipe down.” She set her blinker and took the ramp onto I-95. “Next stop Wolf Trap.”

Will raised Yuuri’s hand and gave it a kiss. He silently mouthed, “You ok?”

Yuuri gave him a wan smile and nodded.

Will wasn’t convinced. “C’mere,” he whispered. Yuuri scooted over as much as his seatbelt would allow and leaned in to rest his head against Will’s shoulder. They settled in like that for the rest of the drive. _I wish this didn’t have to stop_ , Will thought. _God, this feels good._

When they reached the house, Will suddenly wished they’d gone to the airport as planned.

“Shit,” Bev said.

Hannibal’s car was sitting in Will’s driveway.

“Shit?” Yuuri asked. He felt Will’s body tense and pulled away from him. “Why shit?”

“That’s his car,” Will said.

“Whose…?” Yuuri shook his head, not comprehending for a moment until realization dawned on him. His face fell. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Big fuckin'  _oh_ ,” Bev growled. “Should we get out of here?”

“I don’t…” Will trailed off. He felt numb. “I don’t know.”

“This could get messy, Will. You might not be ready for this.”

“And then there’s me,” Yuuri said.

Bev had stopped in the mouth of the driveway, but they were close enough to see Hannibal wasn’t in his car. “Maybe he hasn’t noticed us,” Bev said. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. But this is _bad_ with Yuuri here.”

“I don’t have to get out,” Yuuri said. “You can go, and… Bev can take me to the airport. You should… You should see him.”

“I don’t know if I can. Maybe we _should_ turn back.”

“Just say the word,” Bev said.

Yuuri balled up his fists, then boomed: “No!”

Will’s eyes shot wide, and Bev jumped in her seat.

“Will,” Yuuri said. “You have two years of history with him. You’ve only known me since last night.”

“Yeah, but we’ve shared—“

“It doesn’t matter what we’ve shared,” Yuuri cut in.

“You don’t understand. I don’t _want_ him anymore. I just… I want him to go away. I don’t want to see him again.”

“Be realistic,” Yuuri said. “You’ll have to do this sometime. Don’t delay it just because we had… Whatever we had. I can’t be responsible for that. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“The kid has a point,” Bev said. “But it’s up to you.”

Will sighed, his eyes nearly burning a hole in the window as he stared at Hannibal’s car. “I guess Yuuri’s right, isn’t he? It has to happen sometime.”

“Go,” Yuuri said.

_I really should go,_ Will thought. _But…_ “I can’t do this alone.”

“Makes sense,” Bev said. “I can leave the car running for Yuuri.”

“No, you can go home.”

“But you said—“

“I think I need Yuuri.”

“ _What?!_ ” Bev gasped. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am, though,” Will said. He finally stopped staring at the car and looked to Yuuri. What he saw horrified him.

Yuuri had tears in his eyes. He’d been crying without making a sound. His voice had made him seem so sure of himself, but that hadn’t been the whole story.

“That’s silly,” he said, forcing a smile through his tears. “Take her. I’ll be fine out here. I’ll only complicate things.”

Will reached out and wiped some tears from Yuuri’s cheek. “Don’t you get it? You’ve already saved me ten times over. You’ve made everything so much _less_ complicated. But… Shit, you’re crying. I shouldn’t have asked you to deal with this part. It’s too much to expect, and you’re too sweet to get involved in—“

“Wait,” Yuuri interrupted. “You say I’ve saved you ten times? You’ve saved me twenty.” He wiped at his nose with the back of his hand. “You changed my mind. If this is what you want, it’s the least I can do after all you’ve done for me.”

“This is a bad move, Will, a really bad move,” Bev said. “How long’s it been? You said it was yesterday morning.”

Will checked his watch. “A day in ten minutes,” he said. “It happened at eleven.”

“So let’s call it twenty-four hours. He’s not gonna be pleased that you fucked a younger guy so soon—no offense, Yuuri—much less that you _brought him home_ in that timeframe. And knowing Hannibal, things could get dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Yuuri asked, stronger again. He’d stopped crying, and was busy cleaning the tears and snot off of his face with his jacket. “Dangerous how?”

“Dangerous as in violent,” Will said. “He’s never actually hit me, but he’s been violent in… other ways, so I wouldn’t put it past him. That’s part of why I don’t want to do this alone.”

“Strength in numbers?” Bev asked. “I guess so. But if that’s the case, let me come, too.”

“No,” Will said. “The other part of it is personal. And you know you’re not any good at being personal.”

“True.”

Yuuri straightened up in his seat. He was still a little blotchy, but from his expression it was difficult to tell he’d been crying at all. “We shouldn’t wait,” he said. “He’s probably noticed us by now.”

“I haven’t seen him yet,” Bev said. “He must be in the house.”

“I’m sure he is. I forgot to take back his key.”

Bev leaned around her seat to look at them both. “You two _be careful_. If it gets bad… Are you listening to me?”

Both men nodded.

“Okay. If it gets bad, come outside. I’m gonna stay put until you give me the go-ahead that everything’s fine. But I have my sidearm with me, and if you come out and he’s, I don’t know, chasing you… I’m willing to use it.”

“You’d kill him?” Yuuri asked in shock.

“No, not on purpose, but let’s just say I’m not a huge fan of Hannibal’s,” she said. “I don’t do well with abusive men, especially if they abuse my best friend here.”

“Abusive,” Yuuri echoed. “I kind of guessed that from the start.”

“How?” Will was barely audible.

“Just… The way you looked when you talked about him. You looked scared. I wasn’t sure if you were scared of losing him or scared _of_ him until now.”

“Was I that obvious?” Will peered out the window again. “Okay. You’re sure you want to do this?”

“If I didn’t want to, I would’ve said so. I’m here for you.”

“You have no idea what that means to me,” Will said. He reached for the door, but hesitated before pulling the handle. “Wait. Something’s been bothering me. Back at the hotel, when we were about to… you know. You said we both wanted the same thing. I guessed something…” He cleared his throat. _Shouldn’t get too detailed with Bev here_ , he thought. “Anyway, you said it was partly that, but it was something else, too, and you never told me what you meant by it.”

“Can’t this wait?” Bev asked testily. “Hannibal’s _in your house_.”

They both ignored her, and Yuuri began to answer Will’s question. “I meant what we both wanted was someone to help us heal. You must have realized by now that out of everyone in the world the only _someones_ who could do that for us are each other, because we’re going through the same exact thing at the same exact time. That’s on top of the attraction.”

“So that’s what you meant? The sex was healing. Huh.” Yuuri had moved him too much to worry about Bev hearing.

“Yes. And now maybe this is the next step. That’s why I’m going with you, because I think I’m the only one who can really understand. You know?”

Will nodded. “I do. I’m ready now.”

He turned back, opened the door, and stepped out into the sunlight.


	7. Time Means Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little dark, but there's plenty of light at the end of the tunnel, so stick with me! It does allude to past abuse though, so if that's triggery for you, feel free to skip this one. It's not too detailed, though. Enjoy!

The first thought Will had upon opening his front door was: _He’s not happy_.

 Hannibal sat in Will’s favorite chair inside, his legs crossed and his fingers drumming a staccato beat on its armrests. His expression would’ve seemed pleasant enough to someone who didn’t know him well, but Will knew him _very_ well, and even from across the room he could see the darkness in his eyes.

“Hello, Will,” he said. Again, he _sounded_ casual, but there was a slight edge in his voice that Will was uniquely capable of detecting. “You’ve been out all night.”

Unease crept into Will’s gut. “What are you doing here, Hannibal?”

“Really,” Hannibal said. “That’s no way to greet your partner, is it?”

Will blinked at him. “Partner?”

“Why the confusion? You know I prefer the term partner to boyfriend. We’re not boys any longer.”

“No,” Will said. “We _were_ partners. Past tense.”

“Past tense?” Hannibal’s lips turned up into a smile, but that only replaced Will’s unease with dread. “Of course we’re not past tense.”

After those words Will felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He thought he’d been prepared for anything Hannibal could throw at him, but he didn’t expect _this._ “You left me,” he said.

“What? I left you?” Hannibal didn’t drop his smile. “You actually thought I wasn’t coming back?”

“You left me,” Will repeated. He couldn’t process this fast enough to respond properly.

Hannibal sighed. “You’re overreacting, dear.”

“Don’t call me that,” Will said quietly.

Hannibal’s smile fell away. He leaned forward in Will’s chair. “I’ve always called you dear. Why should I stop now?”

Will swallowed hard. He felt himself starting to flounder. _I need to get control of myself_ , he thought. _But it’s nice hearing him call me that. No, I shouldn’t… I need…_

“Well, then,” Hannibal said. “Are you going to stand in the doorway all day, dear, or would you like to come inside?” He uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet. “I’ll make you some tea, and we can work this out together. I don’t like seeing you so out of sorts.”

Will took a few steps into the room, leaving the door open behind him. He didn’t want to put a barrier between Hannibal and himself in the house and Yuuri outside on the porch.

“Good,” Hannibal said. “Why don’t you sit?”

Sitting was the last thing Will wanted to do now. He shook his head.

Hannibal sighed again. “You’re strange today. Have you slept?” He waited for an answer, but received none. “Strange, tired, and apparently silent. I’ll get the tea. You’re not going to run off on me, are you?”

“No,” Will said, finding his voice for a single word.

“Good. I’ll be right back.” Hannibal disappeared through the kitchen door. It swung shut after him.

Will stood rooted to the spot, unsure what to do next. He’d expected a confrontation. Some kind of screaming fight, maybe. He’d thought if he was lucky Hannibal would just be there to pick up some of his clothes, but that wasn’t the case at all. This was somehow worse than a fight. He was acting like nothing had changed, and Will didn’t know how to handle that in the least. Part of him felt like screaming, but there was also a part of him that felt _relieved._

 _He doesn’t seem angry anymore,_ he thought. _Maybe he’s not mad like he was yesterday. Maybe he’s…_

He shook his head rapidly to clear his mind. He couldn’t think straight with Hannibal in front of him. For all the realizations his time with Yuuri had given him, the sight of Hannibal still set him back on his heels.

_Did he change his mind? Can he and I just…_

He held up his hand and found it to be quaking intensely. He was slipping, and he no longer trusted himself. He needed help. He needed Yuuri. He staggered out of the door, turned to his right, and felt relief wash over him at the sight of the young figure skater with the blue-rimmed glasses waiting for him on the porch.

“What’s going on?” Yuuri asked in a low voice. “I could barely hear, but… You look awful.”

“I don’t know,” Will said, and his eyes went bleary with tears. He blinked them away. “He’s acting like he never left, and I just… What if I was wrong? What if he didn’t mean it?”

Yuuri grasped his shoulder. “Will,” he said. “I don’t think you were wrong. And from everything you’ve told me about him… I can’t say for sure from out here, but I’d bet on my life he’s fooling you.”

Will nodded slightly. “No, you’re right. That _is_ what he does. I’m just…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m just so fucking confused. He’s making tea for me. What kind of thing is that to do the next day? Show up and make tea?”

As if on cue, the teakettle screeched from inside.

“He’ll be back soon,” Will said.

“Should I stay here?”

“No. Come in with me. I can’t think properly when I’m alone with him. I have to—no, _we_ have to take care of this.”

Yuuri squeezed Will’s shoulder before releasing it. They locked eyes for a moment, then Will turned to head back inside with Yuuri on his tail. This time he actually shut the door.

It wasn’t long before Hannibal came out of the kitchen.

“Our teacups are all dirty,” he said, peering at the mug in his hand. “So I hope you don’t mind that I used—“

He looked up at them and froze. The mug fell to the hardwood and shattered, scattering hot tea and ceramic shards around his feet.

“Hannibal,” Will said. “This is Yuuri.”

Hannibal blinked. He was genuinely taken aback, and Will realized he’d never actually seen him surprised before. It was a very deer in the headlights look on him. “Why is this boy in our home?”

“Because I brought him here.”

“Who is he?”

“A friend,” Yuuri spoke up. “I’m Will’s friend.”

“Excuse me?” Hannibal said. “Is this a joke? You don’t have friends, Will. And he must be twenty years old.” He fell silent, and after a little while understanding dawned on his face. The shock in his eyes evaporated. “This is who you were with last night, isn’t it?”

Yuuri looked to Will. He wasn’t sure how much he’d be willing to say about them.

“How do you even know I didn’t come home?” Will asked.

“Don’t deflect. I asked you a question. Were you with this… _Yuuri_ … last night?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

Hannibal turned his head away. “That’s confirmation enough. I’m very disappointed in you.”

“Disappointed…?”

“Very. I’ve been faithful to you for two years. I’ve never once strayed, yet at the first sign of uncertainty you run off and… actually, I don’t know. What did you run off and do?”

“It’s not your concern,” Will said.

“I see. I’m your partner, yet it’s not my concern when you disappear all night. I’m your partner, yet it’s not my concern when you bring a young boy into our home.“

“It’s not _our_ home,” Will said. “It’s mine. You chose to leave it. Didn’t you?”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Hannibal took a step forward, and the broken mug crunched under his shoe. “I didn’t leave you. I would never leave you. You’re mine.”

“What happened, then? If you didn’t break up with me, then what happened yesterday? Why did you…” Tears glazed his eyes again and the trembling returned. “I’m so confused.”

“Will?” Yuuri asked him softly. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just…”

A tear rolled down his cheek. Yuuri saw it, moved in close, and took his hand.

The gesture didn’t stop Will’s tremors, but it stirred something in him that quieted his stormy mind enough to think more rationally. It made him feel strong. He wiped the last of his tears away with his free hand. “Hannibal…”

“Holding hands?” Hannibal demanded. “This really is a joke. You can’t possibly… This is… What do you think you’re doing with him?”

“I’m letting a friend be there for me. You wouldn’t know what that’s like.” Will glanced to Yuuri, who gave him a nod. He returned his attention to the man in front of them. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Forgive me for being a little lost,” Hannibal said. “I think it’s understandable considering my partner came home with a twenty-year-old.”

Will cringed away at the word _partner_. “It’s okay,” Yuuri told him. “Don’t let him shake you.”

“I don’t think anyone asked for your opinion,” Hannibal said. “You’d be wise to stay out of this.”

“Will wants me here. I’m staying.”

Hannibal shook his head in disbelief. “This is outrageous. As to your question: I don’t know what you’re talking about. We did have a disagreement yesterday, but I didn’t leave you.”

“I… A disagreement?” Will asked.

“Yes. You remember, don’t you? Or maybe you don’t. If you remembered, you wouldn’t have run to this strange boy.”

Will bit his lip before responding. “He’s only strange to you. I know him well. But we didn’t have a disagreement, you just—“

“You know him well?” Hannibal broke in. “You mean intimately, don’t you?”

“It’s not—“

“Not my concern, I know,” Hannibal finished. “So you _did_ sleep with him. He’s half your age. I thought you were better than this. You started the fight yesterday, and now you’re punishing me for having a human reaction to it.”

“I didn’t start anything,” Will protested. “You were the one…” He trailed off, retreating into his head. _What did happen yesterday?_ he thought. _It feels like so long ago, but… Did we fight? Who started it? I can’t remember… Fuck, I’m starting to cry again. I always end up crying when Hannibal’s involved. Yuuri must be regretting ever meeting me right now. He must—_

“Who started it doesn’t matter,” Yuuri said, breaking Will’s train of thought. “What matters is whether you walked out or not. And I know for a fact that you did.”

“Oh, do you?” Hannibal returned. “I did walk out, but only in the literal sense. I was upset. I left the house. That’s all. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.”

Then, holding Yuuri’s hand tight, Will found the confidence to say something he hadn’t even realized he needed to say. “You did plenty,” he said. “One thing in particular. I think you know what I mean by that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t understand it until recently. Bev is the only one who knows, but… It was our third weekend together. We went to the beach. I was so elated that weekend because someone finally loved me back. You dropped the ‘L’ word fast, didn’t you? But it wasn’t real, because… I don’t know. Maybe things weren’t moving fast enough for you. Maybe your attraction drove you wild. I want to believe those were the reasons for what you did. It’s better than thinking you did it just to chain me to you.”

“You’re confused,” Hannibal said. “You’ve always been a little touched, but now you’ve come undone. Nothing happened that weekend, Will. Nothing.”

“You really expect me to believe that?” Will looked away and gave a little _heh_. “Okay then. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive. You always say I’m too sensitive, don’t you? Too attached to you? Too clingy? But… It was that weekend. I’ve been under your thumb ever since. This morning, when Yuuri and I were in bed together…”

Yuuri gasped. Will could imagine the hatred that must be writhing in Hannibal’s eyes, but he couldn’t look at him to confirm it yet.

“…I felt something. It was the same something I felt for you in the beginning. I kept feeling it for you… And feeling it… And feeling it… But at some point it became fake. I thought you loved me, and I convinced myself I loved you back because I believed no one else would feel that way about me again. I stayed by your side because of a fantasy that you loved me properly. Earlier, you said you would never leave me, because I was _yours_. That’s what you think love means. Possession. You played all the tricks in the book to maintain your ownership of me. Maybe it’s my fault for letting you, or maybe there was nothing I could do about it. Who knows?”

“Will…”

Will looked up again. What he saw confused him more than anything else in recent memory. Hannibal’s eyes were moist. Teary, even. Will had never imagined the day he would see him like that.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how very wrong you are,” he said. “But clearly I’ve made many mistakes for you to feel this way. I know I’m a difficult partner. Maybe sometimes I seem impossible, especially when we argue. But you can’t fault me for being who I am. I can’t just roll over when you say hurtful things to me. I react. And yesterday… I reacted. I left the house, but I didn’t mean to leave your life.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Yuuri said. “Those tears aren’t real.”

Hannibal ignored him and continued. “I don’t _want_ to leave your life, and I don’t want _you_ to leave mine. I’m willing to move past this if you are.”

Will reeled back as if he’d been slapped. “What?”

“I’ll forgive you for cheating on me, Will. That’s _what_.”

Someone started laughing hysterically, and after a moment, Will realized it was himself.

“You’d laugh in my face?” Hannibal’s tears were gone as quickly as they’d come, replaced by scorn. “I offer you a gift, and you—“

“A gift? Being with you isn’t a gift. It’s a curse.”

“It doesn’t matter how much you insult me,” Hannibal said, his expression warming almost instantaneously. “You love me, don’t you? You’ll change your mind.”

“Your face is doing gymnastics. I’m getting whiplash just watching it change.” Will shook his head, still chuckling a little. He realized his cheeks were wet, but they weren’t tears of sorrow. “Thank God for Yuuri. Without his hand to hold onto I wouldn’t’ve been able to say any of that.”

“Don’t hurt me like this,” Hannibal said, his features now written with pain. “I’ve never wanted to do anything but love you.”

“Another new emotion? Do you even have any of your own, or do you just conjure up whatever fits the situation? Whatever you can use to make people dance like marionettes at your puppet show?”

“Will,” Yuuri said. “I think it’s past time to kick him out.”

“ _You_ think?” Hannibal asked. “You’re a child meddling in an adult relationship. But please do elaborate on what you think.”

“He doesn’t need to, and he’s right,” Will said. “I’ve said what I needed to say. I have to ask you to leave now.”

Hannibal just stared at him.

“I said you have to leave.“

“I know what you said. And I _will_ leave, but understand that if I walk out of this house now, you’ll never get me back, and you’ll never have a chance with anyone else. You’re too much trouble. Do you want to be alone that badly?”

“The thing is,” Will said, “Yuuri has shown me that I _can_ have another chance with someone else. I can have plenty of chances. I was a late bloomer there, but at least I figured it out eventually. So no, Hannibal. I don’t need you. But I can assure you you’ll never find anyone who’ll love you as faithfully as I did in the beginning, before everything got so fucked up. _You’re_ the one who needs _me_ , and I’m done with you now.”

“I see. So I suppose you think anything you have with that boy can replace our relationship? You’re going to regret choosing him over me.”

Will shook his head. “I’m not _choosing_ anyone right now. Yuuri helped me heal my wounds until I could think straight. He’s a very close friend, but not a boyfriend. And I think I told you to get out.”

Hannibal shook his head, not moving and saying nothing. His face was emotionless now. _That’s his honest face_ , Will thought. _All the others are smoke and mirrors._

“Leave,” Will said. “Now.”

“Alright. I know checkmate when I see it.” He paused. “I wish you well, Will. Truly. After all the things you put me through… I still wish you well.”

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

Hannibal crossed to the door. He pulled it open and stepped outside, but paused just over the threshold to look back at them. “I won’t be back for my things. Donate them or burn them, I don’t care. Either way, I’m not coming—“

Yuuri slammed the door in his face.

Hannibal’s car started a moment later, and a moment after that, they heard him drive away.

Will fell to his knees.

“Will!” Yuuri dropped down next to him. “Are you alright? Are you okay? That was… That was a lot to take in… How are you?”

Will turned his head to him. He was smiling a little. “I think you’ve saved me a hundred times now.”

Yuuri sighed in relief. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried… Did I make things worse? I barely even spoke up for you.”

“No, you’re the only reason this was possible. Before I came to get you I was losing it, and I’d only been around him for maybe two minutes. Without you there I would’ve believed him. So… Thank you.”

Yuuri pulled him into a hug. They didn’t kiss. Something had changed, and they both knew the time for that was over. The embrace was just as tender as any kiss could’ve been, anyway.

“By the way…” Yuuri asked. “Maybe it’s none of my business, but what actually happened yesterday?”

“Nothing,” Will replied. “There was no fight. After he claimed there was one I started to doubt my memory, but now that he’s gone I’m clear on that fact. He just packed his bags while I was doing paperwork and said we were through.”

A sharp knock came from the door, and they both shot to their feet. Will called out, “Who is it?”

“Who do you think?” Bev called back. “Open the door.”

“Hey,” Will said as he let her in.

“You both look like shit,” she observed. “But you’re smiling, Hannibal left, and I didn’t have to shoot anyone, so I guess we’re in the clear.”

“Yeah,” Will said. “He’s gone for good.”

“Oh, he’ll be back,” she said. “His type always crawls back eventually.”

Will shrugged. “Let him. I won’t be fooled again.”

Bev squinted at Yuuri. “Listen kid, I don’t know what kind of magic you’re working with, but this seems to have your fingerprints on it, and I’m grateful for that. But now that this is over, _please_ tell me you aren’t planning on being with Will.”

“Nah,” Yuuri said. “I don’t think so. I just helped out a little, and he doesn’t need me for that anymore. I guess I’m headed back home.”

Will gave him a sideways hug. “You helped out more than just a little, you know.”

“I didn’t put any of those words in your mouth,” Yuuri said. “You just needed a hand to hold to get them out. So I held your hand. That’s all.”

“Sounds like a lot to me,” Bev said. “Damn. All I wanted to do was get Will laid.”

“He _did_ get laid,” Yuuri returned, and Will actually cracked up.

“I can’t believe I’m laughing right now,” Will said. “But really, I feel lighter than I have in two years.” He waited until he caught his breath, then asked, “What’s our next move, Yuuri?”

“Well… All of this has made me realize something.”

“Which is?” Bev asked.

“I need to call Viktor, and I need Will to hold my hand like I held his.”

“Anything you need,” Will said.

Bev said her goodbyes, and the two of them settled into the couch side-by-side. Yuuri took out his phone and set it on the coffee table. “We’re really doing this?” he asked.

“Yep,” Will said.

“Okay. I think I’m ready.”

Will took Yuuri’s hand and linked their fingers together. “I’ll be right here with you.”

Yuuri nodded and cautiously picked up his phone. He scrolled through his contacts. “Viktor Nikiforov…” he muttered.

He switched the phone to speaker, took a deep breath, and placed the call.


	8. Say That You'll Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before the epilogue. Here goes nothin'.

The phone rang. It rang again. It rang some more, and then… It cut off.

“You’ve reached Viktor,” the message came. “Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you back. Spasibo!”

The line beeped, and Yuuri frantically darted to hang up. He dropped the phone at first, then grabbed it back and hit _end_. “He didn’t pick up,” he said.

“Maybe he’s busy,” Will said. “I doubt he’d ignore you—“

“Why wouldn’t he?” Yuuri countered. “He broke up with me. He probably saw my number and didn’t answer. That must be it. I’m an idiot.”

Will squeezed his hand even harder than he’d already been squeezing it. “You’re _not_ an idiot,” he said. “He just wasn’t around to pick up the phone. It’s not a big deal.”

Yuuri hung his head low. “He always answers his phone. No matter what, he answers his phone. He saw my number.”

“Even if he did, he—“

“He what?” Yuuri broke in. “Don’t try to comfort me now. Comfort me about any other time, because you’re great at that kind of thing. But don’t try to make me feel better about my fiancé ignoring my call.”

“Your fiancé?” Will asked. “Not your ex?”

Yuuri shook his head. “Maybe my ex, but… After what happened with you and Hannibal, I realized Viktor and I…”

“Viktor and you what?” Will pressed.

“I realized we never had those kinds of problems. Not even close. We were the opposite, really. Everything went so well. I haven’t told you, but he was my coach for a year. That’s when we really found each other. That’s when we traded rings. I wanted to quit after that, but…”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted him to get back on the circuit himself,” Yuuri said. “And I didn’t think he’d do that as long as I was still skating.”

“Is that why you told him you wanted to stop?”

Yuuri shook his head. “No. It’s been a year since then. He’s not my coach anymore. We’re engaged, but we compete against each other. At least we used to.”

“Not anymore?”

Yuuri frowned. “I don’t want to quit. Not now. But I also don’t want to maintain a rivalry with my fiancé. It’s complicated.”

“You said so on the bench. You said it was complicated, and I said I was upset. But hey… Do you know what that tells me?”

Yuuri turned his head. His eyes were moist, but he wasn’t crying.

“It tells me you have a chance. Stop me if I’m wrong, but you _do_ want a chance, don’t you?”

“You understand that?” Yuuri asked. “I’m surprised.”

“Why, because we slept together? No. You needed that for the same reason I did. We were both broken. You’re acting like _you_ split up with _him_. I know that’s not true.”

“It’s really not,” Yuuri said.

“So what happened, then? Why did he leave?”

“I told you it was my fault. I said I was quitting skating, remember?”

Will blinked. “But why?”

“He was holding back,” Yuuri said. “He wasn’t fighting hard enough. He wanted _me_ to win, always. And I just…”

“Just?”

“I failed on purpose. I never directly told him that. I wanted him to win, so I messed up a toe loop. Nothing he could’ve noticed at the time, but… When I told him I was quitting, and that it was for his own good, he understood what I’d done. He realized it. Before that he’d just been confused. I’d always landed those jumps in practice, but when it came down to it… I just _didn’t_. So all of a sudden he knew what was going on. He knew I’d failed on purpose. He was horrified.”

“That’s when he left?”

“No,” Yuuri said. “He wanted to talk things through first.”

“Was this in Baltimore…?”

“St. Petersburg,” Yuuri replied. “But I wouldn’t talk to him about it. I refused. I couldn’t face him about what I’d done. He’d been so disappointed in me at the time—you know, when I didn’t land the jump, before he found out why—but he still loved me no matter what. He was so _disappointed_ , though. And his disappointment carried over into his own free skate. He messed his up, too, but his wasn’t on purpose, and it didn’t cost him the top spot on the podium. But he would’ve set a record if he hadn’t.”

“I see,” Will said. “So you blame yourself?”

“Of course I blame—“

The phone started ringing.

Yuuri traded a frantic look with Will before grabbing the phone. It kept ringing in his hand. “What do I do?” he asked quickly.

“You answer it.”

Yuuri nodded. He tapped the screen. It was already set to speaker, so he set it back down again and said, “Viktor?”

A long sigh came through from the other line. “Where’ve you been?” Viktor’s voice asked. Will figured it was him from the start, but his Russian accent only confirmed things. He was grateful they spoke to each other in English.

“Around town,” Yuuri said. He barely choked the words out. He was squeezing Will’s hand so hard he thought his bones might snap.

Another sigh. “Yuuri, why did you call me?”

He shrunk back into the couch. “I don’t know,” he said quietly.

“You don’t know?” Viktor asked. “This is too much. I shouldn’t have called you back.”

“Why not?”

“ _Why not_?” he echoed. “Because you hurt me. You hurt me very much.”

Will didn’t know the man, but just from his voice he could tell the difference between him and Hannibal. Hannibal said Will had hurt him, but he’d been lying. Viktor had genuine pain in his voice.

“I know,” Yuuri said. “I know I did. I screwed it all up. I’m not denying that. I just…”

“Yuuri,” Viktor said. “I need you to get to the point. I can’t just have a conversation with you right now. I’m… I’m recovering.”

“Recovering from me?” Yuuri asked with a little nervous laugh.

There was dead air for a moment before Viktor said, “Not from you. I’ll never be able to do that. Just from your actions.”

“You mean throwing the Grand Prix?”

“I do,” Viktor said.

“I only meant to help you.”

“It doesn’t matter. You lied to me. You lied to everyone, and you did it in my name.”

“Not publicly.”

Silence again, then: “Yuuri, why are we on speakerphone?”

Yuuri looked to Will with wild eyes. Will was sure his eyes were equally wild, but he kept his lips shut. “No reason,” Yuuri managed to say. “Viktor…”

“Stop,” Viktor said. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I’m not,” Yuuri protested. “I’m only—“

“You’re only trying to win me back? That’s what this is, isn’t it? This is too much. It hurts too much. I can’t do this.”

“Viktor, please—“

“Stop it!” Viktor shouted, his voice distorted through the microphone. “All I ever wanted for you was to surpass me. Don’t you understand that?”

“ _You’re_ the one who doesn’t understand. I’ve always known that, ever since you were my coach. Back then it was fine. After you went back on the ice…”

“Were you lying to me from the beginning? As soon as I came back?”

“No,” Yuuri said. “It was only the Grand Prix.”

“ _Only the Grand Prix_ ,” Viktor repeated. “Only? _Dammit_ , Yuuri. I wanted you to beat me. But I wanted you to beat me _fairly_. Yurio got lucky the year I coached you. He couldn’t compare to either of us after that. Everyone knew one of us would take gold in the end. It turned out to be me, even when I screwed up my own toe loop like you did. I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

“I am, though,” Yuuri whispered.

“What?”

“Nothing. But what’s wrong with silver?”

“What’s wrong is, without missing that jump you would’ve been on top. How am I supposed to feel about that? I only won gold because my fiancé rigged it for me.”

“You’ve won gold before.”

“On my merits, Yuuri. This time was not legitimate. This time it should’ve been you. That’s why I can barely stand to talk to you. You gave up gold, and you think I’d be okay with that? We’re both competitors. You should’ve seen this coming.”

Yuuri cringed. Will pulled him in tighter, and Yuuri settled his head against Will’s shoulder. “Why did you wait until Baltimore to leave me?” he asked.

Viktor sighed on the other end of the line. “I don’t know. I probably should’ve waited until we got home, but… I hadn’t stopped thinking about it, and it became too much.”

“Just because I wanted to quit?”

“No,” Viktor said. “I don’t mind if you quit. I mind if you quit _because of me_.”

Yuuri pressed closer against Will. He needed him to stay strong.

“You said it was about your age, but I’m older than you are,” Viktor said. “You should’ve known I wouldn’t accept that. So I fought you on it. I told you to get back on the ice, because you’d come so close to me at the Grand Prix.”

“Is that all this is? You wanted me to win just for the sake of winning?”

“You really don’t know?” Viktor asked. “Don’t you remember what I said when I was coaching you? The night we got engaged?”

Yuuri furrowed his brow. “I don’t…”

“Don’t pretend, I know you remember. I said we’d get married when something happened.”

Yuuri’s eyes closed tight. “Fuck.”

“Please, Yuuri, don’t curse,” Viktor said. “But yes. I said we’d get married when you won gold.”

Will finally understood. He brought his hand up to stroke Yuuri’s hair.

Yuuri responded by leaning up against him, then fell away completely and said, “So I prevented that from happening.”

“Yes. You took silver when you should’ve taken gold.”

“And then we would’ve…”

“Had our long-planned wedding, yes.”

Yuuri started to cry. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“You’re no idiot,” Viktor said. “I won’t listen to you put yourself down. You’re just as incredible to me as you always were. But you lied about something so important… I couldn’t stay after that. You prevented our marriage just to boost my ego.”

“I wasn’t thinking at the time.”

“Well, think about it now.”

“How did you realize it all?” Yuuri asked. “All I said was that I wanted to quit.”

“You took silver,” Viktor replied. “And I know you. The Yuuri from before I coached you would’ve been content with silver. But knowing me made you _confident_. Knowing me made you want to _win_. As soon as you said you were quitting, I wondered: Why stop now? And then I realized it. You wanted me to win gold again in my last year on the ice. You knew you were my only real competition. That was the only reason I could think of, and then I thought about how you missed that jump… The one you _always, always_ made in practice. I didn’t tell you this, but I went back and checked the video. I don’t know how I didn’t see it in the first place. It was obvious.”

“Forgive me for not…”

“Not what?”

“For not being able to beat you. I couldn’t. You were my idol for so long, Viktor. I had posters of you on my walls. I had to trash all of them when you came to Hasetsu so you wouldn’t see. But I had posters.” Tears dripped down his cheeks. “You coaching me was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

There was a silence. Then: “Yuuri… Coaching you was the best thing that ever happened to me, too. But that doesn’t change the fact that you lied.”

“So then… If you know all of this, you must’ve figured out I never intended to stop skating, too.”

“ _What?_ ” Viktor demanded.

Yuuri blinked in disbelief. “You didn’t know?”

“Explain this,” Viktor said. “I deserve to hear it.”

“I guess you do,” Yuuri said. “Okay. I thought… I thought if I said I wanted to quit, it might… I thought it might ignite some new strength in you. We both know you haven’t been at top form since the Grand Prix.”

“So… You wanted to make me angry?”

“Maybe a little,” Yuuri said. “I just thought you might try harder than you had been. I thought you might’ve been holding back because of me, and I couldn’t take that.”

“I wasn’t,” Viktor said flatly.

“I know that now.”

Dead air again.

“Yuuri?” Viktor finally said. “You never told me why we’re on speakerphone.”

Yuuri swallowed hard, then said, “I’m not alone.”

More dead air.

“Please understand… I couldn’t talk to you without support. He’s just support. That’s all.”

“ _He_?”

“Yeah. He.”

“You don’t know anyone in Baltimore. Unless…” He sighed into his phone. “Well. I can’t judge you. I left you. What you did after that is none of my business.”

“I don’t want us to break up,” Yuuri said.

“It’s a little late for that,” Viktor returned. “Especially since you’re with another man right now. Why doesn’t he introduce himself?”

Will stayed quiet. He squeezed Yuuri’s hand instead of speaking up.

“He doesn’t have to,” Yuuri said. “He’s just helping me a little.”

“If you say so.” A beat passed. “Do you still have your plane ticket?”

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t changed the seat?”

“Of course not.”

“Why?”

Yuuri shrunk away. Will pulled him back and tucked his head under his chin. He hugged him tight.

“Please don’t make me,” Yuuri said. “I made a mistake. Just a stupid mistake. I understand why you left, but I don’t want… I want to make up for things.”

Another sigh. “How do you think you’ll do that?”

“If you won’t take me back now… Maybe you’ll take me back when I beat you at the Grand Prix this year.”

“What?”

“I’m not quitting.”

“I…” Viktor trailed off. “You’re not going to throw your free skate again, are you?”

“No. Fair and square.”

Silence.

“Are you there?”

“I’m here. You’re serious about this? You’re going back into competition?”

“It’s your last year,” Yuuri said. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t give you a good challenge?”

“Friend?”

“Yeah. You _did_ break up with me, remember?”

“Oh,” Viktor said. There was a pause, then he said, “I haven’t been honest about something..”

“What?”

“I took the first plane back as soon as I ended things. I couldn’t stand to be in the same city as you. Not even the same continent. I’m back in St. Petersburg already, but… I just landed, and…”

“And?” Yuuri asked in a wounded voice.

“As soon as I deplaned I heard seagulls. Remember what I told you so long ago? I never noticed the seagulls here. It was only when I got to Hasetsu that I first heard them. But now I hear them, and they remind me of you. And I can’t stand it.”

“Forget the seagulls,” Yuuri said. “Just take me back. I miss you, Viktor. I miss you _so much_.”

“You slept with someone else. I can tell that much.”

“We were broken up.”

Still another sigh. Viktor seemed good at sighing. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m glad you found comfort somewhere.”

“To be honest… I don’t know how you’ll take this, but the only reason I called you is because of him. He helped me see how much I… How much _we_ are right for each other.”

“Sex told you that?”

“Kind of,” Yuuri said.

“I guess I should be thankful, then.”

Yuuri spoke up a little louder. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying thank you for telling me all of this. I should’ve stayed to listen instead of running.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to say it without Will,” Yuuri admitted. His eyes shot wide when he realized what he’d said.

“Without Will? Is Will there now?”

Yuuri swallowed and said, “He is.”

“Will, huh? I don’t know you. Introduce yourself.”

“Hi,” Will said awkwardly. “Hi, Viktor.”

“I can’t see him, but he sounds cute enough,” Viktor said with a little nervous laugh. “I hope he’s cute.”

“Why would you…?” Yuuri trailed off, but Viktor didn’t listen.

“Was my Yuuri being honest, Will?” Viktor asked. “Are you the reason he called me?”

“I guess so,” Will said. “We’ve shared a lot in the last twelve hours.”

“If you’re the reason…” Viktor waited a beat. “I came very close to making the biggest mistake of my life yesterday. You might’ve slept with my fiancé. I can’t judge you for that. We were broken up, and—“

“You just called me your fiancé,” Yuuri interrupted. “Was that an accident?”

“No, Yuuri,” Viktor said. “I want you to come home.”

Yuuri started to cry in earnest. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He couldn’t respond.

“Yuuri?”

“Hold on a sec,” Will said. “He’s crying. I think he’s happy.”

“I _am_ happy,” Yuuri said through sobs. “ _So_ happy. I thought you hated me. I thought we were unrecoverable before I met Will. But after I helped him with his own problems, I realized we were _very_ recoverable. We were—no, we _are_ —the thing everyone wishes they could have. So take me back. Please.”

“Hey, Will-whoever-you-are?” Viktor asked.

“Yeah?”

“Would you book my future husband a ticket to St. Petersburg?”

That opened the floodgates. Yuuri started crying twice as hard as before, but he was smiling through it, too.

“It’s the least I can do. Yuuri helped me a lot, just so you know. He rescued me from my own worst mistake of my life. He’s a special guy. Keep him close.”

“Oh, I know how special he is,” Viktor said. “I will keep him close. And I can’t wait to meet him on the ice.”


	9. Epilogue

_Dear Will,_

_I hope you’re not too shocked by this letter. I took your address down before you drove me to the airport. I thought I’d surprise you with a postcard from St. Petersburg, but by the time I landed in Russia I had too many other things on my mind. You were one of those things—and you often still are—but I forgot about the silly postcard. Oh well. I’m writing you now, so I hope this makes up for it._

_It’s been almost a year and a half since our time together. I think those were the most important few hours of my life, but don’t tell Viktor that. I’m sure he’d want me to think the day he became my coach was more important, but I learned a lot of things about myself in Baltimore and Wolf Trap—more than I even knew at the time. It’s the same for you, probably. It must be. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without you._

_I’m not sure how to express any of this the right way. I have so much I want to say, but so little time to say it! The music is starting outside, and everything’s getting clogged in my brain, but mostly I’m writing to say thank you. You made this crazy thing I’m about to do possible, so it seems right that writing this should be the last thing I do before I walk out there._

_Are you dating again? I hope so. Maybe you’ll let me know sometime, or maybe that’s asking too much. Either way, I’m happy I got to meet you, Agent Graham. It feels like yesterday to me. The memories are still so strong, even though we were drunk most of the night. We danced, we talked, we had some fun in bed, we talked some more, and of course we had our two big moments at your house, and I remember every last second of all of it._

_But the music’s getting louder, so I’d better end this. How can I sum up my thoughts?_

_How about: I’ll always appreciate you for what you gave me that day, and for what you let me give to you, too. You’re very special, Will, and I wish the world for you._

_Well, I’d better sign off. You know, I was a Katsuki Yuuri when we met, but thanks to you, in a few minutes I’ll be something else._

_It’s going to feel good writing it down._

_Love,_

_Yuuri Nikiforov  
_

* * *

 

 

Will gently put the letter back into its envelope and checked his watch. He needed to get going, too. As fate would have it, Bev had just had a breakup of her own, and he intended to take _her_ out dancing this time.

He lingered a second to smile at Yuuri’s carefully-printed return address—they’d settled down in Hasetsu, it seemed—and thought to himself: _We’re all right where we’re supposed to be_.

 

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're done. Thanks for sticking with me for the whole ride. This fic is very personal to me for a lot of reasons, so it's pretty amazing to me that people have enjoyed reading my thoughts on life and love and whatever else comes with it.
> 
> "See you next level!"


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